Category: Christmas

Another Christmas has come and gone. We were sad to miss visiting with my dad this year, but he had a hip replacement and was recuperating. Luckily, all went very well for him, and he’ll be back running strong in no time.

Meanwhile, someone else was excited to have the largest package under the tree.

Others were more chillaxed.

Some may have been too chillaxed. Yeah, that’s my novel that put her to sleep.

As usual Grace got waaaaay too much stuff. That’s the hazard of having an only child, I think. Trust me, this was only the tip of the iceburg.

She also got One Direction concert tickets for the summer for her and two friends. That’s the gift that will keep on giving all year.

Bryon made a FANTASTIC dinner for us. His Christmas dinners have become something of a legendary tradition.

We also had a few hors d’oeuvres like this…

And one thing about our family, we all love shrimp. Without consulting, everyone brought a platter of cocktail shrimp to share. That didn’t even include the shrimp in the main dish!

Another ‘given’ is Grace’s love for sparkling grape juice. I bought two of these bottles. The family brought the rest.

Bryon finally got to open his giant gifts.

An archery target and a new hunting blind. Grace shopped online and for them both, all by herself. I just paid with the credit card and picked them up.

I had a few awesome surprises of my own under the tree.

The next morning, Santa had left a few more surprises for Grace (paint and miscellaneous decor to redo her playroom upstairs)…but no elves to do the work.

A new papasan chair

New bookcases with storage

The paint had to wait for another day because there were games to play!